Anthony Colandrea expects to rebound after dreadful performance

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Husker quarterback is coming off his worst performance of the season, and understands that the road only gets tougher as the team starts to navigate through the month of November.

A Halloween crowd of 86,097 fans watched as Anthony Colandrea looked spooked in the pocket against Washington, and struggled to connect with his targets. Instead of using his dual-threat skills to extend plays, Colandrea put the ball in the air for a season-high, 44 times.

Nebraska (5-3) never got into a rhythm on offense, and only scored 10 points in the loss, which was a season-low, and Colandrea threw three interceptions. Not to mention a defender returned Colandrea’s final interception for a touchdown, and basically sealed the game for the Huskies.

Colandrea took full responsibility for the offense’s inability to put points on the scoreboard, and knew he disappointed Big Red Nation.

“I think it starts with me, I didn’t play good at all, I didn’t get the offense going to what the standard is, and it showed on Saturday,” Colandrea said. “You can’t turn the ball over three times and expect to win, but I don’t think I played well enough for us to win.”

The gunslinger completed 24 of his 44 passes, and that type of efficiency is unacceptable to Nebraska fans. However, there are several factors that continue to play into Colandrea’s passing woes. The big boys up front aren’t allowing him time in the pocket, the receivers can’t get open downfield and continue to drop passes.

A healthy rushing attack, and a solid supporting cast would take some of the pressure off Colandrea, but he finds himself trying to be the hero on most plays. Washington’s defense exposed Nebraska’s lack of identity on offense, and made the unit one-dimensional, so Colandrea is determined to change that.

“I think a lot of teams are doing different things, but at the end of the day we have to stay on our process, and commit to doing the right things,” he said. “Try to stay on schedule, because I feel like as soon as we get off schedule, it’s hard to get back on schedule.”

The last thing Colandrea wants to do is point fingers for his lack of chemistry with the receivers, and tight ends. Luke Lindenmeyer fell down while he ran a rout, and Colandrea’s pass landed right in the chest of a defender.

Lindenmeyer was emotional about it after the game, but Colandrea understood how accidents can happen at the worst times. Now he’s focusing on getting back to the basics, and making the offense better as a whole, which is what good quarterbacks do.

“I have to play better for those guys, and we have to play as a unit like in fall camp when we were playing together, rolling, going down the field and scoring touchdowns,” the 22-year old said. “At the end of the day we just gotta go out there and have fun.”

The signal-caller is putting the loss to Washington in the rearview mirror, and shifting his focus to Illinois on a short week. The Fighting Illini’s defense operates under a 3-3-5 stack scheme, and they’re all about taking away the deep pass. That means Colandrea is going to have to mix it up with some RPO’s, to keep the Fighting Illini on their toes, but it’s still going to be a challenge.

Coach Matt Rhule is moving Offensive Coordinator Dana Holgorsen, and Offensive Line Coach Geep Wade from the sidelines to the press box, in hopes of creating a new spark Colandrea and the offense. Colandrea is eager to redeem himself too, and what better way than on the road in a hostile environment against a quality opponent.

“They’re really good, they play fast, they’re big, they got a lot of good players, and I think it’s going to be a good test for us.”